The present disclosure relates to a head cleaning mechanism including a recording head having ink ejection openings for ejecting ink onto a recording medium such as paper, and relates also to an ink-jet recording apparatus provided with such a head cleaning mechanism.
As recording apparatuses such as facsimile machines, copiers, and printers, ink-jet recording apparatuses, which form images by ejecting ink, are widely used for their ability to form high-definition images.
In such ink-jet recording apparatuses, fine ink droplets (hereinafter, referred to as mist) which are ejected together with ink droplets for recording an image, and splashed mist which is generated when ink droplets attach to the recording medium, attach to an ink ejection face on the recording head and solidify. If mist on the ink ejection face gradually increases and covers the ink ejection openings, it leads to, for example, degraded straightness in ink trajectory (curved flight) or ejection failure, and hence degraded printing performance of the recording head.
Thus, for the cleaning of the ink ejection face of the recording head, there is known a configuration to push out (purge) ink forcibly from the ink ejection openings and wipe the purged ink attached to the ink ejection face with a wiper as recovery operation for the recording head. In such ink-jet recording apparatuses, when the purged ink on the ink ejection face is wiped, the wiper moves along the ink ejection face with its tip end portion bent in a direction opposite to the wiping direction.
There are also known ink-jet apparatuses provided with a depressed portion for capturing ink on the ink ejection face, downstream of the ink ejection openings in the wiping direction. In such ink-jet apparatuses, when the wiper that has wiped the purged ink on the ink ejection face passes across the depressed portion for capturing ink, the ink at a tip end portion of the wiper is held (captured) in the depressed portion for capturing ink. It is thus possible to prevent the ink at the tip end portion of the wiper from splashing as a reaction of the bent wiper straightening when the wiper leaves the ink ejection face.